David Bowie's Art Collection Is Heading To Auction

More than 200 modern and contemporary British works from the late musician's private art and furniture collections will be displayed in London for the first time this month. Exhibitions will follow in Los Angeles, New York, and Hong Kong before the pieces – which include work by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Marcel Duchamp – will be sold at auction at Sotheby's in London in a three-part sale in November.

According to the BBC, 120 pieces of furniture, including a 1960s stereo cabinet from Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, will be auctioned as well.

"Art was, seriously, the only thing I've ever wanted to own. It has always been for me a stable nourishment," Bowie told The New York Times in 1998. "I use it. It can change the way I feel in the mornings. The same work can change me in different ways, depending on what I'm going through."

As The Guardian points out, Bowie studied art and design at technical college. He also served on the editorial board of the journal Modern Painters, where he interviewed artists such as Jeff Koons, Tracey Emin, and Damien Hirst. Bowie played Andy Warhol in Julian Schnabel's biopic of Basquiat, which was released in 1998. The extent of his collection has not been revealed until now.

The New York Times predicts the collection will fetch more than $13.2 million. The proceeds will go to his family, who is selling the art due to lack of space.

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